Siphon tube assemblies for atomisers



March 20, 1962 s. A. LEADER 3,026,049

SIPHON TUBE ASSEMBLIES FOR ATOMISERS Filed Jan. 11, 1960 lnuenlor SIDNEY A. LEADER Attorney 5 United States Patent 3,026,049 SHHON TUBE ASSEMBLIES FOR ATOMISERS Sidney Arthur Leader, Hythe, Kent, England, assignor to Rybar Laboratories Limited, London, England, a company of Great Britain Filed Jan. 11, 1960, Ser. No. 1,467 Claims priority, application Great Britain Jan. 12, 1959 4 Claims. (Cl. 239433) This invention is for improvements in or relating to siphon tube assemblies for atomisers of the kind having a body-portion for retaining the liquid to be atomised, within which there is disposed a liquid jet and air-nozzle assembly, air being passed through the air-tube drawing liquid through the liquid jet and atomising it in the body of the atomiser.

An object of the present invention is to provide a siphon tube assembly which can be more readily cleaned, e.g. by the removal of any blockage in the liquid tube, than is possible with existing constructions. Existing constructions of siphon tube assemblies provide a liquid tube which is curved so as to lie parallel to, or only at a slight angle with, the air-nozzle tube so that the liquid tube can readily dip into the reservoir of liquid contained in the body-portion of the atomiser.

With such constructions, it is very difi'icult to remove any obstructions which may block the liquid tube since, by its nature, the orifice at the discharge end of the liquid tube is of very small cross-section; since siphon tube assemblies are frequently made of glass, breakages frequently occur when attempting to clear the liquid tube.

According to the present invention, there is provided a siphon tube assembly for an atomiser comprising an air-nozzle tube and a liquid jet tube, moulded as an integral one-piece molding from an elastic mouldable material; a very suitable material from which to manufacture the siphon tube assembly is polyethylene which has the dual attributes of being inert towards the liquids with which it comes into contact in use and being sufiiciently flexible and elastic to be capable of being bent to any desired shape.

A feature of the invention consists in that the assembly is so moulded that the liquid jet tube is formed in a straight line with the delivery end thereof, which is preferably of a narrower cross-section; the moulding of the liquid jet tube in this manner means that, when a blockage has to be removed, the siphon tube assembly is allowed to return to its normal position, whereby a slender probe can be thrust directly through the liquid tube to clear the narrow delivery orifice of any obstacle lodging therein.

The formation of the liquid jet tube with its delivery end of a narrow cross-section also increases the flexibility of the liquid jet tube at this point and the resistance to bending of the narrow part is much less than that of the normal cross-section of the tube.

A feature of the invention consists in that the liquid jet tube is distorted to a bent condition and is retained in the bent condition by means of a clip mounted upon the air-nozzle and liquid jet tube; the clip is conveniently formed as an elliptical member which can be slipped over the air-nozzle and liquid jet tubes. The clip member may alternatively be formed with two holes but, in this case, can only be placed in position by being slipped over the ends of the tubes remote from their nozzles.

The siphon tube assembly of the invention is now de scribed with reference to the accompanying drawings in which FIGURE 1 shows in plan view the elements of one 3,026,049 Patented Mar. 20, 1962 embodiment of siphon tube assembly as removed from an injection moulding die;

FIGURE 2 shows, in perspective, the separated elements of FIGURE 1 assembled ready for use, and

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 showing an alternative section of clip member.

The moulding of the siphon tube assembly can be effected by injection moulding and is most conveniently effected in a single mould in which the integral siphon tube assembly and the said clip member are formed as one piece as shown in FIGURE 1, the clip member 1 and the integral tubes 2 and 3 being severed from the sprue 4 so as to separate them.

In one form of construction illustrated in FIGURE 2, the siphon tube assembly comprises an air-nozzle tube 2 and liquid jet tube 3 which are formed integrally by injection moulding, being linked by a bridging piece 5 near to the delivery orifices 6 and 7 of the tubes 2 and 3. The liquid jet tube 3 is formed for a part of its length at the delivery end 7 thereof, of narrow cross-section as seen at 8 which thereafter is enlarged thus providing for a ready flexing of the liquid jet tube 3 so as to bring it into a position in which it is bent and approaches parallelism with the axis of the air-nozzle tube 2. The two tubes 2 and 3 are held in the operative, i.e. bent, position by means of the clip member 1 which is conveniently moulded from the same plastic material, namely polyethylene, as the siphon tube assembly and is in the form of an elliptical member with a hole 9 whose dimensions are such as to hold the liquid jet tube 3 positioned in relation to the air-nozzle tube 2 in the appropriate bent position.

The air-nozzle tube 2 is formed with a slightly larger external diameter in its upper portion 10, the lower portion of reduced cross-section being adapted to be a close fit in the sealing washer mounted in the boss of the bodyportion of the atomiser to which, of course, is connected the bulb which is compressed in order to force air through the air-nozzle tube, thereby drawing liquid up the liquid jet tube and atomising it at the delivery end thereof.

The alternative form of clip member 11 shown in FIGURE 3 is formed with two holes 12 and 13 adapted to slip over the lower ends of the tubes 2 and 3, the hole 12 being larger than the hole 13 to fit over the enlarged portion 10 of the air-nozzle tube 2; the clip member 1 illustrated in FIGURES 1 and 2 may be slipped over the tubes 2 and 3 from the delivery ends.

The present invention provides a construction which is far less liable to damage than existing siphon tube assemblies, the construction having the additional advantages that the positioning of the delivery orifices of the two tubes is predetermined and will, therefore, always operate with the maximum efiiciency Whilst, in addition, by providing the flexibility of the liquid jet tube, as hereinbefore referred to, the liquid tube can be freed from blockages without danger of damaging the assembly.

I claim:

1. A siphon tube assembly for an atomizer, comprising an air nozzle tube, a liquid jet tube having a nozzle end adjacent one end of said air nozzle tube, and a bridging piece between adjacent ends of said air nozzle tube and said liquid jet tube, said tubes and bridging piece being an integral one-piece molding of elastic material and the bridging piece facing the adjacent ends of said tubes at an angle to and spaced from each other, said liquid jet tube being curved adjacent said bridging piece to bring the remainder of said liquid jet tube into side by side relationship with said air nozzle tube and said liquid jet tube being resiliently urged away from said air nozzle tube by the resiliency of the elastic material in the curved portion thereof, and a clip engaging said tubes and holding said tubes in side by side relationship.

2. A siphon tube assembly as claimed in claim 1 in which the nozzle end of said liquid jet tube has a portion of smaller cross section than the remainder of said tube, and said bridging piece is attached to the smaller cross sectional portion and the curved portion is part of said smaller cross sectional portion.

3. A siphon tube assembly according to claim 1 wherein the said clip is an elliptical member slipped over the air nozzle and liquid jet tubes.

4. A siphon tube assembly according to claim 1 wherein the said clip has two holes therein through which the air nozzle and liquid jet tubes pass.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Hoell Sept. 16, 1890 Eggers Dec. 17, 1901 Minkiewitz Apr. 26, 1910 Lyons July 14, 1925 Graf et a1 Aug. 14, 1928 Scott Dec. 29, 1931 Shadegg Feb. 19, 1957 FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Sept. 12, 1912 Great Britain Sept. 24, 1912 

